Day 16: Still no budget agreement

Both sides will meet again Tuesday

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A record 16-day federal budget
impasse continued Sunday with no concrete agreement, though
both sides pledged to meet again Tuesday after a New Year's
Day break.

Sunday marked the third straight day of White House
negotiations between President Clinton and Republican
congressional leaders. Officials on both sides said they
virtually finished their initial budget analysis of issues
such as income support, welfare, taxes and health care
financing, but did not bridge their central differences over
Medicare and Medicaid.

When asked how close to an overall budget agreement the two
sides are, White House press secretary Mike McCurry said,
"They could be so near or so far away because it will depend
in part on what types of trade-offs they make on the large
issues. They have not attempted to take the big issues ...
and reconcile them."

McCurry confirmed that negotiators have reached some initial
agreements on savings on less controversial programs. Though
he would not say which programs, McCurry said reports of an
estimated $100 billion in savings are not accurate. In
Tuesday's meeting, leaders will take on the more contentious
issues.

Clinton was sounding optimistic after Sunday's talks. As he
left the White House for South Carolina, he said a balanced
budget deal "absolutely" could be reached.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich's spokesman, Tony Blankley, said
negotiations could soon move more quickly. "The careful,
methodical discussions they've had over the last few days --
so that there's a good understanding on both sides of the
details and implications of the issues -- position the
negotiators now to be fairly swift in making decisions should
they choose to do so on Tuesday," he said. (213K AIFF sound or 213K WAV sound)

GOP nixes deal redefining 'essential'

While budget negotiations continued, congressional staffers
separately discussed how to get furloughed federal government
employees back to the job.

Before Sunday's meeting, Gingrich said that was a priority.
"We're trying to work out how to get the federal employees
back to work. We'd also like to get them paid, but as the
president said, most of our success is that we've been in
this room talking and not getting involved in negotiating in
public. And we've made a lot of progress," Gingrich said. "I
feel very good about it." (196K AIFF sound or 196K WAV sound)

McCurry said the president also wants to get federal workers
back as soon as possible, with pay.

Senate Democrats had worked out a deal Sunday with Senate
Republican leader Bob Dole that could have gotten workers
back on the job. However, House Republicans opposed the
proposal, which would have set new limits on debate of a
final balanced budget deal, so Dole withdrew it.

Under the measure, the Senate would have passed legislation
that would declare all federal workers exempt, or essential,
allowing them to return to their jobs. They would not be
paid, but the resolution would promise to pay them when
funding was made available.

House Republicans would like a balanced budget deal by
Wednesday, when this session of Congress ends. While White
House officials said they are not working under that
deadline, they are aware that Republicans are pushing for it.